Determining Serum Levels of IL-10 and IL-17 in Patients with Low Back Pain Caused by Lumbar Disc Degeneration

Abstract

Background: Low Back Pain (LBP) is a common health problem that affects different aspects of a person's life. Degeneration of the intervertebral disc is a major cause of LBP. Interleukin- 17 (IL-17) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine. In contrast, interleukin-10 (IL-10) prevents the occurrence of immune over-stimulation by inhibiting inflammation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the serum levels of these cytokines in LBP patients and in the control group. Methods: In a case-control study, 87 patients, including 59 patients with low back pain and 28 healthy subjects, were examined after magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approval. After recording demographic data, 5 ml of peripheral blood samples were obtained from the subjects, and enzyme- linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) technique was performed to measure IL-10 and IL-17 in serum samples. All analysis was performed in the SPSS software version 20 at a significant level of 0.05. Result: The case group consisted of 21 males and 38 females with mean age 49.6 yrs., and the control group consisted of 14 males and 14 females with a mean age of 36. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 26.5 in the patients and 25.4 in the control group (P>0.05). Serum levels of inflammatory cytokine IL-10 and IL-17 were significantly lower and higher in patients than controls, respectively (P=0.04, P=0.03). Conclusion: Differences in serum levels of IL-17 and IL-10 in the LBP group compared with the healthy group may indicate the role of inflammatory and autoimmune processes in causing disk damage. These findings could potentially be used by future studies to develop new LBP therapeutic strategies.